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Topic: Texas Ashe Juniper (Read 13717 times)

Another North American Juniper species. This tree was collected in 1975 by John Miller, one of the great pioneering member of Texas bonsai, who is still an active force in the state. The tree was very carefully handled and the clay it was growing in was gradually reduced over the years. Marc Noelanders styled the tree as a slant during the LSBF Texas Tour in 2005. I purchased the tree in 2007 at the LSBF show in Dallas from the host club. I wanted to make the tree more of an upright, and when Mike Hagedorn visited in 2008 he went even more radically upright than I had seen. Plus with very careful work on defining the lifeline and deadwood, went from a rather diffuse and broad lifeline, to the slender and popping one the tree has now. Currently we are working to balance the growth between the very aggressively growing top and the slower growing bottom branches. It will be plucked again over the next couple of weeks.

Nice John! Doesn't this species compare more to California Juniper than RMJ? I believe I am right in saying that Arthur Joura at the NC Arboretum has been working with an Ashe Juniper for a number of years now. I think it is probably a similar scale to this tree. I lived in Monroe, Louisiana for a number of years...is your humidity about the same?THanks for posting!John

Wayne, the coloration is due to pollen cones. Peter told me that the tree was completely covered with them a couple of weeks ago and it was a solid cloud of pollen when touched. They are clearing up rather quickly.

Andrew, the foliage is more compact and upright than on J. virginiana, and the foliage has another attribute as well. if you crush the foliage between the thumb and forefinger it has a much stronger smell than the Eastern Red Cedar. I know folks who call the ERC cat pee junipers because of their smell, the Ashe Juniper would be called a "concentrated cat pee" juniper.

Just a quick note, here is the tree after it was styled in February 2008 by Mike Hagedorn, it has a bit of flash shadow. with the reduced foliage mass the trunk is very interesting from this angle. John

Since you're here Peter, why'd you choose this front over the one Mike chose?

I choose this front so I can see the flare at the base of the tree better. Though nebari is not the most important part of a collected tree, if it can be shown, it's a plus. I also like this front because you can see the deadwood feature at the base of the tree. The shadow effect give it more depth and interests. With the old front, it looked flat and plain.

With this new front, I get the same amount of curves, plus flare at the base and shari feature at the base.Hope this helps. Thanks!

There has always been a bit of discussion about how best to front this tree. Mike's solution kept the life-line meandering directly in front, and in the minimum foliage approach allowed for the deadwood extending from the trunk top to be used as a key feature. The tree has grown well over the past 3 years and the deadwood apex is less appealing at this time (to me anyway). I really like what Peter has done, it is an interesting tree and the lifeline is really starting to pop out and gain a mature look to it- takes time.